In order for the world to meet the objectives of the Paris Agreement, the scientific community of earth observation and climate science has to come together and address the main identified research gaps. In particular, it is necessary to reduce the remaining uncertainties in the global carbon cycle. Special emphasis must be put on sources and sinks of oceans and terrestrial ecosystems, in order to fully integrate the budgets for the main greenhouse gases (GHG), CO2 and CH4.

The Global Carbon Project (GCP) studies the integrated picture of the carbon cycle and other interacting biogeochemical cycles, including biophysical and human dimensions and their interactions and feedbacks. It contributes to the endeavors of UNFCCC, IPCC, GCOS, GEO by annual publication of the Global Carbon Budget (GCB) which has been established as one of the most prominent services to climate policy. It is based on observational data from various sources, that require improved sustainability and quality control, faster process towards near-real-time (NRT) data, combination of satellite and in situ observations, etc. More sophisticated products such as flux maps or integrated models will increase the accuracy of the annual GCB.